


/8f( 







PATENT LAWS. 



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Gideon & Co., Print. 






♦.. 



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INDEX 



- Page. See. 

Actions cognizable in Circuit Courts of the United States, &c 7 17 

Additional improvements 6 13 

Original claims subject to re-examination 12 8 

Affirmation 3 6 

Agents for the reception and transmission of models to be appointed 12 10 

Agricultural statistics 14 9 

Antedate of patents authorized 4 8 

Appeal from decision of Commissioner 3 7 

Do do .* 15 11 

Do do 15 12 

In case of interfering applications 4 8 

Do do 14 10 

Application for patents — how and by whom made 2 6 

Appropriations out of the Patent Fund 13 3 

Do do 14 4 

Do do 14 5 

For Agricultural statistics 14 9 

Chief Justice 15 ]3 

Assignments — patents assignable 5 11 

Deeds, &c., to be recorded 11 6 

Executed and recorded prior to 15th December, 1836, to be recorded anew. . 9 1 

Not so recorded, not to be received as evidence 10 2 

Fee for recording...,. 5 11 

Do 14 8 

Do 17 2 

Board of examiners to be appointed in cases of appeal 3 7 

Caveats , 5 12 

Chief Clerk — how appointed, salary, his duties 1 2 

Required to take oath and give bonds 1 3 

Chief Justice 15 13 

Clerks — how appointed — interdicted from acquiring any interest in patents 1 2 

Required to take oath , 1 3 

Temporary and other clerks authorized to be appointed w 13 2 

Do do.. do 12 11 

Do do do 17 3 

Commissioner of Patents — how appointed — his duties, compensation 1 1 

Interdiction from acquiring any interest in patents 1 2 

Required to take oath and give bonds 1 3 

Shall cause a seal to be made 2 4 

Required to lay before Congress a statement of the receipts and expenditures 

of the office 13 14 



IV INDEX. 

Page. Sec. 
Copies of papers destroyed 15th December, 1836, which have been restored, to be 

evidence in any judicial court in the United States, &c 10 2 

Of new patents issued for those lost or destroyed on or before the 15th De- 
cember, 1836, to be admissible as evidence 10 3 

Copies of papers, &c., and drawings, fees for same 2 4 

Courts may render judgment for a sum not exceeding three times the amount of ac- 
tual damages 6 14 

Defendant may plead the general issue, &c, , . . , 6 15 

Department of the Interior 18 2 

Designs 16 3 

Digest of Patents authorized to be published 13 3 

Disclaimer 11 7 

Do 12 8 

Do 12 9 

Draughtsman, how appointed, his salary 1 2 

Drawings, fees for copies of 2 4 

Required in applications 2 6 

Duplicates required 11 6 

Examinations of alleged inventions to be made, proceedings thereon 3 7 

Examiners, how appointed 1 2 

Do do 12 11 

Do do 17 1 

Do do 18 2 

Assistants 13 1 

Do 17 ] 

Extensions, manner of proceeding 8 18 

Do do 17 1 

Fees for copies of drawings and papers 2 4 

For recording assignments » , 5 11 

Do do 14 8 

Do do 17 2 

/ On applications for patents 4 9 

On filing a caveat 5 12 

On re-issues 6 13 

On additional improvements 6 13 

On extensions , 8 18 

On appeals 15 H 

On re-issue for every additional patent 11 5 

For designs ,, 16 3 

How payable 17 15 

Paid in by mistake 15 1 

Foreign patents, date of, &c 14 6 

Franking privilege 1 1 

Interfering applications 4 g 

Remedy by bill in equity ^ 7 15 

Inventions may be sold before patents therefor are granted 14 7 

Library for the Patent office g 19 

Machinist, how appointed, his salary , 1 2 



M 



INDEX. V 

Page. Sec. 

Messenger • > 1 3 

Models in applications 2 6 

To be classified 9 20 

Duplicates of those lost or destroyed to be procured 10 4 

Money paid by mistake > 15 1 

Oath 2 6 

Do 16 4 

Patents, how issued, to be signed by the Secretary of the Interior and Commissioner 
of Patents, specification and drawing to be recorded, for what term the 

patent shall be granted , 2 5 

Issued to executors, administrators, &c., in case of the decease of the inventor 5 10 

To be assignable 5 11 

Issued prior to 15th December, 1836, to be recorded anew 9 1 

Do do do do 16 2 

Not so recorded, not to be received as evidence 10 2 

New patents to be issued for those lost or destroyed on or before Dec. 15, 1836 10 3 

May be issued to assignees 11 6 

Patent fund 4 9 

All moneys received for patents, &c., to be carried to the credit of. ........ , 13 14 

Penalty for infringing the rights of patentees by marking, &c 16 5 

For neglect in marking patented articles 17 6 

Re-issues 6 13 

Several patents may be granted on reissues , 11 5 

Original claim subject to revision and restriction. , 12 8 

Repeal of previous acts 9 21 

Report of Patent office 13 14 

Seal to be provided 2 4 

Specification 2 6 

Specimens in applications 2 6 

Withdrawal, $20 to be refunded 3 7 

Two-thirds fee returnable to foreigners , 13 12 



PATENT LAWS. 



AN ACT to promote the progress of Useful Arts, and to repeal all acts and parts of acts 
heretofore made for that purpose. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States 
of America in Congress assembled, That there shall be established and attached 
to the Department of State* an office, to be denominated the Patent office, 
the chief officer of which shall be called the Commissioner of Patents, to be 
appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, 
whose duty it shall be, under the direction of the Secretary of State, to super- 
intend, execute, and perform all such acts and things touching and respecting 
the granting and issuing of patents for new and useful discoveries, inventions^ 
and improvements, as are herein provided for, or shall hereafter be, by law, 
directed to be done and performed, and shall have charge and custody of all 
the books, records, papers, models, machines, and all other things belonging 
to s,aid office. And said Commissioner shall receive the same compensation t 
as is allowed by law to the Commissioner of the Indian Department, and shall 
be entitled to send and receive letters and packages by mail, relating to the 
business of the office, free of postage.! 

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That there shall be in said office an infe- 
rior officer, to be appointed by the said principal officer, with the approval of 
the Secretary of State, to receive an annual salary of seventeen hundred dol- 
lars, and to be called the Chief Clerk of the Patent office, who in all cases 
during the necessary absence of the Commissioner, or when the said principal 
office shall become vacant, shall have the charge and custody of the seal, and 
of the records, books, papers, machines, models, and all other things belong- 
ing to the said office, and shall perform the duties of Commissioner during 
such vacancy. And the said Commissioner may also, with like approval, ap- 
point an examining clerk, at an annual salary of fifteen hundred dollars; two 
other clerks, at twelve hundred dollars each, one of w^hom shall be a compe- 
tent draughtsman; one other clerk, at one thousand dollars; a machinist, at 
twelve hundred and fifty dollars; and a messenger, at seven hundred dollars. 
And said Commissioner, clerks, and every other person appointed and em- 
ployed in said office, shall be disqualified or interdicted from acquiring or 
taking, except by inheritance, during the period for which they shall hold 
their appointments respectively, any right or interest, directly or indirectly, in 
any patent for an invention or discovery which has been, or may hereafter be, 
granted. 

Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That the said principal officer, and every 
other person to be appointed in the said office, shall, before he enters upon the 



*Now attached to the Home Department — See page 18, sec, 2. 

t $3,000. 

:j: Franking privilege annulled by the act entitled "An act to reduce the rates of postage," 
&c., approved 3d March, 1845; and restored by the act entitled "An act to establish certain 
poet routes, and for other purposes," approved 3d March, 1847; and the act approved 27th 
April, 3848.— See page 18, .sec. 4. 



duties of his office or appointment, make oath or affirmation truly and faith- 
fully to execute the trust committed to him. And the said Commissioner and 
the Chief Clerk shall also, before entering upon their duties, severally give 
bonds, with sureties, to the Treasurer of the United States, the former in the 
sum of ten thousand dollars, and the latter in the sum of five thousand dol- 
lars, with condition to render a true and faithful account to him or his succes- 
sor in office, quarterly, of all moneys which shall be by them respectively 
received for duties on patents, and for copies of records and drawings, and all 
other moneys received by virtue of said office. 

Sec. 4. ^nd be it further enacted, That the said Commissioner shall cause a 
seal to be made and provided for the said office, with such device as the Pre- 
sident of the United States shall approve; and copies of any records, books, 
papers, or drawings, belonging to the said office, under the signature of the 
said Commissioner, or, when the office shall be vacant, under the signature of 
the Chief Clerk, with the said seal affixed, shall be competent evidence in ail 
cases in which the original records, books, papers, or drawings, could be evi- 
dence. And any person making application therefor may have certified copies 
of the records, drawings, and other papers deposited in said office, on paying 
for the written copies the sum of ten cents for every page of one hundred 
words; and for copies of drawings, the reasonable expense of making the 
same. 

Sec. 5. And be it farther enacted, That all patents issuing from said office 
shall be issued in the name of the United States, and under the seal of said 
office, and be signed by the Secretary of State,* and countersigned by the 
Commissioner of said office, and shall be recorded, together with the descrip- 
tions, specifications, and drawings, in the said office, in books to be kept for 
that purpose. Every such patent shall contain a short description or title of 
the invention or discovery, correctly indicating its nature and design, and in 
its terms grant to the applicant or applicants, his or their heirs, administrators, 
executors, or assigns, for a term not exceeding fourteen years, the full and 
exclusive right and liberty of making, using, and vending to others to be used, 
the said invention or discovery, referring to the specifications for the particu- 
lars thereof, a copy of which shall be annexed to the patent, specifying what 
the patentee claims as his invention or discovery. 

Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That any person or persons having dis- 
covered or invented any new and useful art, machine, manufacture, or compo- 
sition of matter, or any new and useful improvement on any art, machine, 
manufacture, or composition of matter, not known or used by others before his 
or their discovery or invention thereof, and not at the time of his application 
for a patent in public use or on sale, with his consent or allowance, as the 
inventor or discoverer, and shall desire to obtain an exclusive property therein, 
may make application, in writing, to the Commissioner of Patents, expressing 
such desire; and the Commissioner, on due proceedings had, may grant a 
patent therefor. But before any inventor shall receive a patent for any such 
new invention or discovery, he shall deliver a written description of his inven- 
tion or discovery, and of the manner and process of making, constructing, 
using, and compounding the same, in such full, clear and exact terms, avoiding 
unnecessary prolixity, as to enable any person skilled in the art or science to 
which it appertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make, con- 
struct, compound, and use the same; and in case of any machine, he shall 
fully explain the principle, and the several modes in which he has contem- 
plated the application of that principle or character by which it may be distin- 



* Secretary of the Interior. — See pag:e 18, sec. 2. 



guished from other inventions; and shall particularly specify and point out the 
part, improvement, or combination which he claims as his own invention or 
discovery. He shall, furthermore, accompany the whole with a drawing or 
drawings, and written references, where the nature of the case admits of draw- 
ings; or with specimens of ingredients, and of the composition of matter, suf- 
ficient in quantity for the purpose of experiment, where the invention or dis- 
covery is of a composition of matter; which descriptions and drawings, signed 
by the inventor, and attested by two witnesses, shall be filed in the Patent 
office; and he shall, moreover, furnish a model of his invention, in all cases 
which admit of a representation by model, of a convenient size to exhibit ad- 
vantageously its several parts. The applicant shall make oath* or affirmation 
that he does verily believe that he is the original and first inventor or discoverer 
of the art, machine, composition, or improvement, for which he solicits a 
patent; and that he does not know or believe that the same was ever before 
-known or used; and also of what country he is a citizen; which oath or affirma- 
tion may be made before any person authorized by law to administer oaths. 

Sec. 7. And be it further enacted, That on the filing of any such applica- 
tion, description, and specification, and the payment of the duty hereinafter 
provided, the Commissioner shall make, or cause to be made, an examination 
of the alleged new invention or discovery; and if, on any such examination, it 
shall not appear to the Commissioner that the same had been invented or dis- 
covered by any other person in this country, prior to the alleged invention or 
discovery thereof by the applicant, or that it had been patented or described in 
any printed publication in this or any foreign country, or had been in public use 
or on sale, with the applicant's consent or allowance, prior to the application, if 
^the Commissioner shall deem it to be sufficiently useful and important, it shall 
be his duty to issue a patent therefor. But w^henever, on such examination, it 
shall appear to the Commissioner that the applicant w^as not the original and first 
inventor or discoverer thereof, or that any part of that w^hich is claimed as new 
had before been invented or discovered, or patented, or described in any print- 
ed publication in this or any foreign country as aforesaid, or that the descrip- 
tion is defective and insufficient, he shall notify the applicant thereof, giving 
him briefly such information and references as may be useful in judging of the 
propriety of renewing his application, or of altering his specification to embrace 
only that part of the invention or discovery which is new. In every such 
case, if the applicant shall elect to w^ithdraw his application, relinquishing his 
claim to the model, he shall be entitled to receive back twenty dollars,! part of 
the duty required by this act, on filing a notice in writing of such election in 
the Patent office; a copy of which, certified by the Commissioner, shall be 
sufficient warrant to the Treasurer for paying back to the said applicant the said 
sum of twenty dollars. But if the applicant, in such case, shall persist in his 
claim for a patent, wdth or without any alteration of his specification, he shall 
"be required to make oath or affirmation anew-, in manner as aforesaid; and if 
the specification and claim shall not have been so modified, as, in the opinion 
of the Commissioner, shall entitle the applicant to a patent, he may, on appeal, 
and upon request in writing, have the decision of a board of examineis,± to be 
composed of three disinterested persons, who shall be appointed for that pur- 
pose by the Secretary of State, one of whom, at least, to be selected, if prac- 
ticable and convenient, for his knowledge and skill in the particular art, manu- 
facture, or branch of science to which the alleged invention appertains; who 

* See sec. 4, page 16. 

'\All applicants on withdrawal are entitled to a return, of two-thirds the duty deposited. — See 
sec. 12, page 13. 
t Repealed.— See sec, 11, page 15. 

\ 



shall be under oath or affirmation for the faithful and impartial performance of 
the duty imposed upon them by said appointment. Said board shall be fur- 
nished with a certificate in writing with the opinion and decision of the Com- 
missioner, stating the particular grounds of his objection, and the part or parts 
of the invention which he considers as not entitled to be patented. And the 
said board shall give reasonable notice to the applicant, as well as to the Com- 
missioner, of the time and place of their meeting, that they may have an op- 
portunity of furnishing them with such facts and evidence as they may deem 
necessary to a just decision; and it shall be the duty of the Commissioner to 
furnish to the board of examiners such information as he may possess relative 
to the matter under their consideration. And on an examination and consider- 
ation of the matter by such board, it shall be in their power, or of a majority of 
them, to reverse the decision of the Commissioner, either in whole or in part;, 
and their opinion being certified to the Commissioner, he shall be governed 
thereby in the further proceedings to be had on such application: Provided, 
however, That, before a board shall be instituted in any such case, the applicant 
shall pay to the credit of the Treasury, as provided in the ninth section of this 
act, the sum of twenty-five dollars; and each of said persons so appointed shall 
be entitled to receive for his services, in each case, a sum not exceeding ten 
dollars, to be determined and paid by the Commissioner out of any moneys in 
his hands, which shall be in full compensation to the persons who may be so 
appointed, for their examination and certificate as aforesaid. 

Sec. 8. »^nd be it further enacted. That whenever an application shall be 
made for a patent, which, in the opinion of the Commissioner, would interfere 
with any other patent for which an application may be pending, or with any 
unexpired patent which shall have been granted, it shall be the duty of the 
Commissioner to give notice thereof to such applicants or patentees, as the case 
may be; and if either shall be dissatisfied with the decision of the Commis- 
sioner on the question of priority of right or invention, on a hearing thereof, 
he may appeal from such decision, on the like terms and conditions as are pro- 
vided in the preceding section of this act, and the like proceedings shall be 
had, to determine which, or whether either, of the applicants is entitled to 
receive a patent as prayed for. But nothing in this act contained shall be con- 
strued to deprive an original and true inventor of the right to a patent for his 
invention, by reason of his having previously taken out letters patent therefor 
in a foreign country, and the same having been published, at any time within 
six months next preceding the filing of his specification and drawings. And 
whenever the applicant shall request it, the patent shall take date from the time 
of filing of the specifications and drawings; not, however, exceeding six 
months prior to the actual issuing of the patent; and on like request, and the 
payment of the duty herein required, by any applicant, his specification and 
drawings shall be filed in the secret archives of the office, until he shall fur- 
nish the model, and the patent be issued, not exceeding the term of one year — 
the applicant being entitled to notice of interfering application. 

Sec. 9. ^nd be it further enacted, That before any application for a patent 
shall be considered by the Commissioner as aforesaid, the applicant shall pay 
into the Treasury of the United States, or into the Patent office, or into any 
of the deposit banks,* to the credit of the Treasury, if he be a citizen of the 
United States, or an alien, and shall have been resident in the United States 
for one year next preceding, and shall have made oath of his intention to be- 
come a citizen thereof, the sum of thirty dollars; if a subject of the King of 



*See sec. 15, page 17. 



Great Britain, the sum of five hundred dollars; and all other persons the sura. 
of three hundred dollars; for which payment duplicate receipts shall be taken, 
one of which to be filed in the office of the Treasurer. And the moneys 
received into the Treasury under this act shall constitute a fund for the pay- 
ment of the salaries of the officers and clerks herein provided for, and all other 
expenses of the Patent office, and to be called the Patent Fund. 

Sec. 10. And he it further enacted^ That where any person hath made, or 
shall have made, any new invention, discovery, or improvement, on account 
of which a patent might, by virtue of this act, be granted, and such person 
shall die before any patent shall be granted therefor, the right of applying for 
and obtaining such patent shall devolve on the executor or administrator of 
such person, in trust for the heirs-at-law of the deceased, in case he shall have 
died intestate; but if otherwise, then in trust for his devisees, in as full and 
ample manner, and under the same conditions, limitations, and restrictions, as 
the same was held, or might have been claimed or enjoyed, by such person in 
his or her lifetime; and when application for a patent shall be made by such 
legal representatives, the oath or affirmation provided in the 6th section of this 
act shall be so varied as to be applicable to them. 

Sec. 11. Andhe it further enacted^ That every patent shall be assignable in 
law, either as to the whole interest, or any undivided part thereof, by any in- 
strument in writing; which assignment, and also every grant and conveyance 
of the exclusive right under any patent, to make and use, and to grant to 
others to make and use, the thing patented within and throughout any specified 
part or portion of the United States, shall be recorded in the Patent office 
within three months from the execution thereof, for which the assignee or 
grantee shall pay to the Commissioner the sum of three dollars.* 

Sec. 12. And he it further enacted. That any citizen of the United States, 
or alien, who shall have been a resident of the United States one year next 
preceding, and shall have made oath of his intention to become a citizen 
thereof, who shall have invented any new art, machine, or improvement 
thereof, and shall desire further time to mature the same, may, on paying to 
the credit of the Treasury, in manner as provided in the ninth section of this 
act, the sum of twenty dollars, file in the Patent office a caveat setting forth 
the design and purpose thereof, and its principal and distinguishing character- 
istics, and praying protection of his right, till he shall have matured his inven- 
tion; which sum of twenty dollars, in case the person fiUng such caveat shall 
afterwards take out a patent for the invention therein mentioned, shall be con- 
sidered a part of the sum herein required for the sam.e. And such caveat shall 
be filed in the confidential archives of the office, and preserved in secrecy. 
And if application shall be made by any other person, within one year from 
the time of filing such caveat, for a patent of any invention with which it may 
in any respect interfere, it shall be the duty of the Commissioner to deposit 
the description, specifications, drawings, and model, in the confidential archives 
of the office, and to give notice (by mail) to the person filing the caveat of 
such application, who shall within three months after receiving thn notice, if 
he would avail himself of the benefit of his caveat, file his description, speci- 
fications, drawings, and model; and \i^ in the opinion of the Commissioner, 
the specifications of claim interfere with each other, like proceedings may be 
had in all respects as are in this act provided in the case of interfering appli- 
cations: Provided, however, That no opinion or decision of any board of ex- 
aminers, under the provisions of this act, shall preclude any person interested 
in favor of or against the validity of any patent which has been (&■ may here- 

* See sec. 8, page 14. 



6 

after be granted, from the right to contest the same in any judicial court, in- 
any action in which its validity may come in question. 

Sec. 13. And be it further enacted^ That whenever any patent, which has 
heretofore been granted, or which shall hereafter be granted, shall be inopera- 
tive or invalid, by reason of a defective or insufficient description or specifica- 
tion, or by reason of ^the patentee claiming in his specification, as his own in- 
vention, more than he had or shall have a right to claim as new, if the error 
has or shall have arisen by inadvertency, accident, or mistake, and without 
any fraudulent or deceptive intention, it shall be lawful for the Commissioner, 
upon the surrender to him of such patent, and the payment of the further duty 
of fifteen dollars, to cause a new patent to be issued to the said inventor for 
the same invention, for the residue of the period then unexpired, for which 
the original patent was granted, in accordance with the patentee's corrected 
description and specification. And in case of his death, or any assignment by 
him made of the original patent, a similar right shall vest in his executors, ad- 
ministrators, or assignees. And the patent so re-issued, together with the 
corrected description and specifications, shall have the sam.e effect and opera- 
tion in law, on the trial of all actions hereafter commaenced for causes subse- 
quently accruing, as though the same had been originally filed in such corrected 
form, before the issuing of the original patent,* And whenever the orio-inal 
patentee shall be desirous of adding the description and specification of any 
new improvement of the original invention or discovery, which shall have 
been invented or discovered by him subsequent to the date of his patent, he 
may, like proceedings being had in all respects as in the case of the original 
applications, and on the payment of fifteen dollars, as hereinbefore provided, 
have the same annexed to the original description and specification; and the 
Commissioner shall certify, on the margin of annexed description and specifi- 
cation, the time of its being annexed and recorded; and the same shall here- 
after have the same effect in law, to all intents and purposes, as though it had 
been embraced in the original description and specification.! 

Sec. 14. And be it further enacted, That whenever, in any action for dam- 
ages [for] making, using, or selling the thing whereof the exclusive ric^ht is 
secured by any patent heretofore granted, or by any patent which may hereaf- 
ter be granted, a verdict shall be rendered for the plaintiff in such action, it 
shall be in the power of the court to render judgment of any sum above the 
amount found by such verdict as the actual damages sustained by the plaintiff^ 
not exceeding three times the amount thereof, according to the circumstances 
of the case, with costs; and such damages may be recovered by action on 
the case, in any court of competent jurisdiction, to be brought in the name 
or names of the person or persons interested, whether as patentee, assignees, 
or as grantees of the exclusive right within and throughout a specified part of 
the United States. 

Sec. 15. And be it further enacted, That the defendant in any such action 
shall be permitted to plead the general issue, and to give this act and any spe- 
cial matter in evidence, of which notice in writing may have been given to the 
plaintiff or his attorney, thirty days before trial, tending to prove that the de- 
scription and specification filed by the plaintiff does not contain the whole truth 
relative to his invention or discovery, or that it contains more than is necessary 
to produce the described effect; which concealment or addition shall fully ap- 
pear to have been made for the purpose of deceiving the public, or that the 
patentee was not the original and first inventor or discoverer of the thino- 
patented, or of a substantial and material part thereof claimed as new, or tha° 



Sec sec. 5, page Jl. fSec sec. 8, page 12. 



it has been described in some public work anterior to the supposed discovery 
thereof bv the patentee, or had been in public use or on sale with the consent 
and allowance of the patentee before his application for a patent, or that he had 
surreptitiously or unjustly obtained the patent for that which was in fact in- 
vented or discovered by another, who was using reasonable dihgence in adapt- 
ing ani perfecting the same; or that the patentee, if an alien at the time the 
patent was granted, had failed and neglected, for the space of eighteen months 
from the date of the patent, to put and continue on sale to the public, on rea-* 
sonable terms, the invention or discovery for which the patent issued; and 
whenever the defendant relies in his defence on the fact of a previous inven- 
tion, knowledge, or use of the thing patented, he shall state, in his notice of 
special matter, the names and places of residence of those whom he intends to 
prove to have possessed a prior knowledge of the thing, and where the same 
had been used; in either of which cases judgment shall be rendered for the de-- 
fendant with costs: Provided, however, That whenever it shall satisfactorily 
appear that the patentee, at the time of making his application for the patent,^ 
believing himself to be the first inventor or discoverer of the thing patented, 
the same shall not be held to be void on account of the invention or discovery, 
or any part thereof, having been before known or used in any foreign country; 
it not appearing that the same, or any substantial part thereof, had before been 
patented or described in any printed publication: ^nd provided, also, That 
whenever the plaintiff shall fail to sustain his action on the ground that in his 
specification or claim is embraced more than that of which he was the first in- 
ventor, if it shall appear that the defendant had used or violated any part of 
the invention justly and truly specified and claimed as new, it shall be in the 
power of the court to adjudge and award, as to costs, as may appear to be just 
and equitable.* 

Sec. 16. And be it further enacted. That whenever there shall be two inter- 
fering patents, or whenever a patent or application shall have been refused on 
an adverse decision of a board of examiners,! on the ground that that patent 
applied for would interfere with an unexpired patent previously granted, any 
person interested in any such patent, either by assignment or otherwise in the 
one case, and any such applicant in the other case, may have remedy by bill 
in equity; and the court having cognizance thereof, on notice to adverse par- 
ties, and other due proceedings had, may adjudge and declare either the pat- 
ents void in the whole or in part, or inoperative and invalid in any particular 
part or portion of the United States, according to the interest which the parties 
to such suit may possess in the patent or the inventions patented; and may 
also adjudge that such applicant is entitled, according to the principles and pro 
visions of this act, to have and receive a patent for his invention, as specified 
in his claim, or for any part thereof, as the fact of priority of right or invention 
shall, in any such case, be made to appear. And such adjudication, if it be 
in favor of the right of such applicant, shall authorize the Commissioner to 
issue such patent, on his filing a copy of the adjudication, and otherwise com- 
plying with the requisitions of this act: Provided, howtver, That no such judg- 
ment or adjudication shall affect the rights of any person, except the parties to- 
the action, and those deriving title from or under them subsequent to the ren- 
dition of such judgment. 

Sec. 17. And be it further evaded, That all actions, suits, controversies, and 
cases arising under any law of the United States, granting or confirming to in- 
ventors the exclusive right to their inventions or discoveries, shall be originally 
cognizable, as well in equity as at law, by the circuit courts of ^he United 

* See sec. 9, page 12. j See sec. 31, page 15- 



8 

States, or any district court having the powers and jurisdiction of a circuit 
court; which courts shall have power, upon a bill in equity filed by any party 
aggrieved, in any such case, to grant injunctions according to the course and 
principles of courts of equity, to prevent the violation of the rights of any in- 
ventor as secured to him by any law of the United States, on such terms and 
conditions as said courts may deem reasonable: Provided, however, That from 
all judgments and decrees from any such court rendered in the premises, a writ 
of error or appeal, as the case may require, shall lie to the Supreme Court of 
the United States, in the same manner, and under the same circumstances, as 
is now provided by law in other judgments and decrees of circuit courts, and 
in all other cases in which the court shall deem it reasonable to allow the same. 
Sec. 18. And be it further enacted, That whenever any patentee of an in- 
vention or discovery shall desire an extension of his patent beyond the term of 
its limitation, he may make application therefor, in writing, to the Commis- 
sioner of the Patent ofiice, setting forth the grounds thereof; and the Commis- 
sioner shall, on the applicant's paying the sum of forty dollars to the credit of 
the Treasury, as in the case of an original application for a patent, cause to be 
published in one or more of the principal newspapers in the city of Washing- 
ton, and in such other paper or papers as he may deem proper, published in 
the section of country most interested adversely to the extension of the patent, 
a notice of such application, and of the time and place w^hen and where the 
same will be considered, that any person may appear and show cause why the 
extension should not be granted. And the Secretary of State, the Commis- 
sioner of the Patent office, and the Solicitor of the Treasury, shall constitute a 
board* to hear and decide upon the evidence produced before them, both for 
and against the extension, and shall sit for that purpose at the time and place 
designated in the published notice thereof. The patentee shall furnish to said 
board a statement, in writing, under oath, of the ascertained value of the in- 
vention, and of his receipts and expenditures, sufficiently in detail to exhibit a 
true and faithful account of loss and profit in any manner accruing to him from 
and by reason of said invention. And if, upon a hearing of the matter, it shall 
appear to the full and entire satisfaction of said board, having due regard to the 
public interest therein, that it is just and proper that the term of the patent 
should be extended, by reason of the patentee, without neglect or fault on his 
part, having failed to obtain, from the use and sale of his invention, a reason- 
able remuneration for the time, ingenuity, and expense bestowed upon the 
same, and the introduction thereof into use, it shall be the duty of the Com- 
missioner to renew and extend the patent, by making a certificate thereon of 
such extension, for the term, of seven years from and after the expiration of the 
first term; which certificate, with a certificate of said board of their judgment 
and opinion as aforesaid, shall be entered on record in the Patent office; and 
thereupon the said patent shall have the same effect in law as though it had 
been originally granted for the term of twenty-one years; and the benefit of 
such renewal shall extend to assignees and grantees of the right to use the 
thing patented, to the extent of their respective interests therein: Provided, 
however, That no extension of a patent shall be granted after the expiration of 
the term for which it was originally issued. 

Sec. 19. Jl7id be it further enacted. That there shall be provided, for the use 
of said ofiice, a library of scientific works and periodical publications, both for- 
eign and American, calculated to facilitate the discharge of the duties hereby 
required of the chief officers therein, to be purchased under the direction of the 
Committee of the Library of Congress. And the sum of fifteen hundred dol- 
lars is hereby ap})ropriated for that purpose, to be paid out of the Patent fund. 

• Repealed — see sec. 1. page 17. 



Sec. 20. And he it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the Commis- 
sioner to cause to be classified and arranged, in such rooms or galleries as may 
be provided for that purpose, in suitable cases, when necessary for their preser- 
vation, and in such manner as shall be conducive to a beneficial and favorable 
display thereof, the models and specimens of compositions and fabrics, and 
other manufactures and works of art, patented or unpatented, which have been, 
or shall hereafter be, deposited in said office. And said rooms or galleries 
shall be kept open during suitable hours for public inspection. 

Sec. 21. And be it further enacted, That all acts and parts of acts heretofore 
passed on this subject, be, and the same are hereby, repealed : Provided, how- 
ever, That all actions and process in law or equity sued out prior to the passage 
of this act, may be prosecuted to final judgment and execution, in the same 
manner as though this act had not been passed, excepting and saving the appli- 
cation to any such action of the provisions of the fourteenth and fifteenth sec- 
tions of this act, so far as they may be applicable thereto: And provided, also, 
That all applications for petition for patents, pending at the time of the passage 
of this act, in cases where the duty has been paid, shall be proceeded with and 
acted on in the sam.e manner as though filed after the passage thereof. 

JAMES K. POLK, 
Speaker of the House of Representatives. 
W. R. KING, 
President of the Senate pro tempore. 
Approved Julv 4, 1836. 

ANDREW JACKSON. 



AN ACT in addition to the act to promote the progress of Science and Useful Arts. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States 
of America in Congress assembled, That any person who may be in possession 
of, or in any way interested in, any patent for an invention, discovery, or im- 
provement, issued prior to the fifteenth day of December, in the year of our 
Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-six, or in an assignment of any 
patent, or interest therein, executed and recorded prior to the said fifteenth day 
of December, may, without charge, on presentation, or transmission thereof to 
the Commissioner of Patents, have the same recorded anew in the Patent of- 
fice, together with the descriptions, specifications of claim, and drawings an- 
nexed or belonging to the same; and it shall be the duty of the Commissioner to 
cause the same, or any authenticated copy of the original record, specification, 
or drawing, which he may obtain, to be transcribed and copied into books of 
record to be kept for that purpose ; and wherever a drawing was not originally 
annexed to the patent, and referred to in the specification, any drawing produced 
as a delineation of the invention, being verified by oath in such manner as the 
Commissioner shall require, may be transmitted and placed on file, or copied as 
aforesaid, together with certificate of the oath; or such drawings may be made 
in the office, under the direction of the Commissioner, in conformitjr with the 
specification. And it shall be the duty of the Commissioner to take such mea- 
sures as may be advised and determined by the Board of Commissioners pro- 
vided for in the fourth section of this act, to obtain the patents, specifications, 
and copies aforesaid, for the purpose of being so transcribed and recorded. 
And it shall be the duty of each of the several clerks of the judicial courts of 
the United States to transmit, as soon as may be, to the Commissioner of the 
Patent office, a statement of all the authenticated copies of patents, descrip- 
tions, specifications, and drawings of inventions and discoveries made and ex- 



10 

tended prior to the aforesaid fifteenth day of December, which may be found 
on the files of his office; and also to make out and transmit to said Commis- 
sioner, for record as aforesaid, a certified copy of every such patent, descrip- 
tion, specification, or drawing, which shall be specially required by said Com- 
missioner. 

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That copies of such record and drawino-s^ 
certified by the Commissioner, or, in his absence, by the chief clerk, shall be 
prima facie evidence of the particulars of the invention, and of the patent 
granted therefor, in any judicial court of the United States, in all cases where 
copies of the orisjinal record, or specifications and drawings, would be evidence, 
Y/ithout proof of the loss of such originals ; and no patent issued prior to the 
aforesaid fifteenth day of December shall, after the first day of June next, be 
received in evidence in any of the said courts in behalf of the patentee or other 
person who shall be in possession of the same, unless it shall have been so re- 
corded anev/, and a drawing of the invention, if separate from the patent, veri- 
fied as aforesaid, deposited in the Patent office ; nor shall any written assign- 
ment of any such patent, executed and recorded prior to the said fifteenth day 
of December, be received in evidence in any of the said courts in behalf of the 
assignee or other person in possession thereof, until it shall have been so re- 
corded anew. 

Sec. 3. And be it further enacted.^ That, whenever it shall appear to the 
Commissioner that any patent was destroyed by the burning of the Patent office 
building on the aforesaid fifteenth day of December, or was otherwise lost prior 
thereto, it shall be his duty, on application therefor by the patentee or other per- 
son interested therein, to issue a new patent for the same invention or discovery, 
bearing the date of the original patent, with bis certificate thereon, that it w^as 
made and issued pursuant to the provisions of the third section of this act, and 
shall enter the same of record: Provided, however, That before such patent 
shall be issued, the applicant therefor shall deposit in the Patent office a du- 
plicate, as near as may be, of the original model, drawings, and descriptions, 
with specifications of the invention or discovery, verified by oath, as shall be 
required by the Commissioner, and such patent and copies of such drawings 
and descriptions, duly certified, shall be admissible as evidence in any judicial 
court of the United States, and shall protect the rights of the patentee, his ad- 
ministrators, heirs, and assigns, to the extent only in which they would have 
been protected by the original patent and specification.* 

Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the Commis- 
sioner to procure a duplicate of such of the models destroyed by fire on the 
aforesaid fifteenth day of December, as were most valuable and interesting, and 
whose preservation would be important to the public, and such as would be 
necessary to facilitate the just discharge of the duties imposed by law on the 
Commissioner in issuing patents, and to protect the rights of the public and of 
patentees in patented inventions and improvements: Provided, That a duplicate 
of such models may be obtained at a reasonable expense: And provided, also, 
That the whole amount of expenditure for this purpose shall not exceed the sum 
of one hundred thousand dollars. And there shall be a temporary board of 
commissioners, to be composed of the Commissioner of the Patent olfice and 
two other persons to be appointed by the President, whose duty it shall be to 
consider and determine upon the best and most judicious mode of obtaining 
models of suitable construction; and, also, to consider and determine what 
models may be procured in pursuance of, and in accordance with, the provi- 
sions and limitations in this section contained. And said Commissioners may 

* See sec. 2, page IG. 



11 

make and establish all such regulations, terms, and conditions, not inconsistent 
■with law, as in their opinion may be proper and necessary to carry the provi- 
sions of this section into effect, according to its true intent. 

Section 5. And he it further enacted, That whenever a patent shall be re- 
turned for correction and re-issue, under the thirteenth section of the act to 
which this is additional, and the patentee shall desire several patents to be 
issued for distinct and separate parts of the thing patented, he shall first pay, 
in manner and in addition to the sum provided by that act, the sum of thirty 
dollars for each additional patent so to be issued: Provided, however, That no 
patent, made prior to the aforesaid fifteenth day of December, shall be corrected 
and re-issued until a duplicate of the model and drawing of the thing, as origi- 
nally invented, verified by oath as shall be required by the Commissioner, shall 
be deposited in the Patent office. Nor shall any addition of an improvement 
be made to any patent heretofore granted, nor any new patent be issued for an 
improvement made in any machine, manufacture, or process, to the original 
inventor, assignee, or possessor, of a patent therefor, nor any disclaimer be 
admitted to record, until a duplicate model and drawing of the thing originally 
invented, verified as aforesaid, shall have been deposited in the Patent office,. 
if the Commissioner shall require the same; nor shall any patent be granted for 
an invention, imprcrv^ement, or discovery, the model or drawing of which shall 
have been lost, until another model and drawing, if required by the Commis- 
sioner, shall in like manner be deposited in the Patent office. And in all such 
cases, as well as in those which may arise under the third section of this act,, 
the question of compensation for such models and drawing shall be subject to 
the judgment and decision of the Commissioners provided for in the fourth sec- 
tion, under the same limitations and restrictions as are therein prescribed. 

Section 6. And be it further enacted, That any patent, hereafter to be 
issued, may be made and issued to the assignee or assignees of the inventor or 
discoverer, the assignment thereof being first entered of record, and the appli- 
cation therefor being duiy made, and the specification duly sworn to by the 
inventor. And in all cases hereafter, the applicant for a patent shall be held to 
furnish duplicate drawings, whenever the case admits of drawings, one of which 
to be deposited in the office, and the other to be annexed to the patent, and 
considered a part of the specification. 

Section 7. And be it further enacted. That whenever any patentee shall 
have, through inadvertence, accident, or mistake, made his specification of 
claim too broad, claiming more than that of which he was the original or first 
inventor, some material and substantial part of the thing patented being truly 
and justly his own, any such patentee, his administrators, executors, and as- 
signs, whether of the whole or of a sectional interest therein, may make dis- 
claimer of such parts of the thing patented as the disclaimant shall not claim 
to hold by virtue of the patent or assignment, stating therein the extent of his 
interest in such patent; which disclaimer shall be in writing, attested by one 
or more witnesses, and recorded in the Patent office, on payment by the per- 
son disclaiming, in manner as other patent duties are required by law to be 
paid, of the sum of ten dollars. And such disclaimer shall thereafter be taken 
and considered as part of the original specification, to the extent of the interest 
which shall be possessed in the patent or right secured thereby, by the dis- 
claimant, and by those claiming by or under him, subsequent to the record 
thereof. But no such disclaim.er shall affect any action pending at the time of 
its being filed, except so far as may relate to the question of unreasonable 
j.eglect or delay in filing the same. 

Section 8. And he it further enacted, That whenever application shall be 



12 

Blade to the Commissioner for any addition of a newly discovered improvement • 
to be made to an existing patent, or whenever a patent shall be returned for 
correction and re-issue, the specification of claim annexed to every such patent 
sshall be subject to revision and restriction, in the same manner as are original 
applications for patents; the Commissioner shall not add any such improvement 
to the patent in the one case, nor grant the re-issue in the other case, until the 
applicant shall have entered a disclaimer, or altered his specification of claim 
jin accordance with the decision of the Commissioner; and in all such cases, 
the applicant, if dissatisfied with such decision, shall have the same remedy, 
and be entitled to the benefit of the same privileges and proceedings, as are 
provided by law in the case of original applications for patents. 

Section 9. And he it further enacted, (any thing in the fifteenth section of 
the act to which this is additional to the contrary notwithstanding,) That 
•'v^^henever, by mistake, accident, or inadvertence, and without any wilful de- 
fault or intent to defraud or mislead the public, any patentee shall have, in his 
{specification, claimed to be the original and first inventor or discoverer of any 
Hiaterial or substantial part of the thing patented, of which he was not the first 
and original inventor, and shall have no legal or just right to claim the same, 
in every such case the patent shall be deemed good and valid for so much of 
the invention or discovery as shall be truly and bona fide his own: Provided, 
It shall be a material and substantial part of the thing patented, and be defini- 
tively distinguishable from the other parts so claimed without right as aforesaid. 
And every such patentee, his executors, administrators, and assigns, whether 
of a whole or of a sectional interest therein, shall be entitled to maintain a suit 
at law or in equity on such patent for any infringement of such part of the in- 
vention or discovery as shall be bona fide his own as aforesaid, notwithstanding 
the specification may embrace more than he shall have any legal right to claim. 
But in every such case in which a judgment or verdict shall be rendered for 
the plaintiff, he shall not be entitled to recover costs against the defendant, un- 
less he shall have entered at the Patent office, prior to the commencement of 
the suit, a disclaimer of all that part of the thing patented which w^as so claimed 
without right: Provided, however, That no person bringing any such suit shall 
be entitled to the benefits of the provisions contained in this section, who shall 
have unreasonably neglected or delayed to enter at the Patent office a dis- 
claimer as aforesaid. 

Section 10. And be it further enacted. That the Commissioner is hereby 
authorized and empowered to appoint agents in not exceeding twenty of the 
principal cities or towns in the United States, as m.ay best accommodate the 
different sections of the country, for the purpose of receiving and forwarding 
to the Patent office all such models, specimens of ingredients, and manufac- 
tures, as shall be intended to be patented or deposited therein, the transporta- 
tion of the same to be chargeable to the Patent fund. 

Section 11. And be it further enacted. That instead of one examining clerk, 
as provided by the second section of the act to which this is additional, there 
shall be appointed, in manner therein provided, two examining clerks, each to 
receive an annual salary of fifteen hundred dollars: and also an additional 
copying clerk, at an annual salary of eight hundred dollars. And the Commis- 
sioner is also authorized to employ, from time to time, as many temporary clerks 
as may be necessary to execute the copying and draughting required by the 
first section of this act, and to examine and compare the records with the origi- 
nals, who shall receive not exceeding seven cents* for every page of one hun- 
dred words, and for drawings and comparisons of records with originals such 

' Sec sec. 2, page 13. 



13 

reasonable compensation as shall be agreed upon or prescribed by the Commis- 
sioner. 

Section 12. And he it further enacted, That whenever the application of 
any foreigner for a patent shall be rejected and withdrawn for want of novelty 
in the invention, pursuant to the seventh section of the act to which this is ad- 
ditional, the certificate thereof of the Commissioner shall be a sufficient war- 
rant to the Treasurer to pay back to such applicant two-thirds of the duty he 
shall have paid into the Treasury on account of such application. 

Section 13. And be it further enacted, That in all cases in which an oath is 
required by this act, or by the act to w^hich this is additional, if the person of 
whom it is required shall be conscientiously scrupulous of taking an oath, af- 
firmation may be substituted therefor. 

Section 14. And be it further enacted, That all moneys paid into the Treas- 
ury of the United States for patents, and for fees for copies furnished by the 
Superintendent of the Patent office prior to the passage of the act of which this 
is additional, shall be carried to the credit of the Patent fund created by said 
act; and the moneys constituting said fund shall be, and the same are hereby, 
appropriated for the payment of the salaries of the officers and clerks provided 
by said act, and all other expenses of the Patent office^ including all the ex- 
penditures provided for by this act; and, also, for such other purposes as are 
or may be hereafter specially provided for by law. And the Commissioner is 
hereby authorized to draw upon such fund, from time to time, for such sums 
as shall be necessary to carry into effect the provisions of this act, governed, 
however, by the several limitations herein contained. And it shall be his duty to 
lay before Congress, in the month of January, annually, a detailed statement 
of the expenditures and payments by him made from said fund. And it shall 
also be his duty to lay before Congress, in the month of January, annually, a 
list of all patents which shall have been granted during the preceding year, 
designating, under proper heads, the subjects of such patents, and furnishing 
an alphabetical list of the patentees, with their places of residence; and he 
shall also furnish a list of all patents which shall have become public property 
during the same period; together with such other information of the state and 
condition of the Patent office as may be useful to Congress or to the public. 

Approved, March 3d, 1837. 



A BILL in addition to an "Act to promote the progress of the Useful Arts." 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States 
0f America in Congress assembled, That there shall be appointed, in manner 
provided in the second section of the act to w^hich this is additional, two as- 
sistant examiners, each to receive an annual salary of twelve hundred and 
fifty dollars. 

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the Commissioner be authorized to 
employ temporary clerks to do any necessary transcribing, whenever the cur- 
rent business of the office requires it: Provided, however. That instead of sal- 
ary, a compensation shall be allowed, at a rate not greater than is charged for 
copies* now furnished by the office. 

Sec 3. And be it further enacted, That the Commissioner is hereby author- 
ized to publish a classified and alphabetical list of all patents granted by the 

*See sec. 4, page 2. 



14 

Patent office previous to said publication, and retain one hundred copies for 
the Patent office, and nine hundred copies to be deposited in the library of 
Congress, for such distribution as may hereafter be directed; and that one 
thousand dollars, if necessary, be appropriated, out of the Patent fund, to de- 
fray the expense of the same. 

Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That the sum of three thousand six hun- 
dred and fifty-nine dollars and twenty-two cents be, and is hereby, appropriated 
from the Patent fund, to pay for the use and occupation of rooms in the City 
Hall by the Patent office. 

Sec 5. And be it further enacted, That the sum of one thousand dollars be 
appropriated from the Patent fund, to be expended under the direction of the 
Commissioner, for the purchase of necessary books for the library of the Patent 
office. 

Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That no person shall be debarred from re- 
ceiving a patent for any invention or discovery, as provided in the act approved 
on the fourth day of July, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-six, to which 
this is additional, by reason of the same having been patented in a foreign 
country more than six months prior to his application: Provided, That the 
same shall not have been introduced into public and common use in the United 
States prior to the application for such patent: And provided, also, That in all 
•cases every such patent shall be limited to the term of fourteen years from the 
date or publication of such foreign letters patent. 

Sec. 7. And be it further enacted, That every person or corporation who has, 
or shall have, purchased or constructed any newly invented machine, manu- 
facture, or composition of matter, prior to the application by the inventor or 
discoverer for a patent, shall be held to possess the right to use, and vend to 
others to be used, the specific machine, manufacture, or composition of matter 
so made or purchased, without liability therefor to the inventor, or any other 
person interested in such invention; and no patent shall be held to be invalid 
by reason of such purchase, sale, or use, prior to the application for a patent 
as aforesaid, except on proof of abandonment of such invention to the public, 
or that such purchase, sale, or prior use, has been for more than two years 
prior to such application for a patent. 

Sec. 8. Arid be it further enacted. That so much of the eleventh section of 
the above recited act as requires the payment of three dollars to the Commis- 
sioner of Patents for recording any assignment, grant, or conveyances, of the 
whole or any part of the interest or right under any patent, be, and the same 
is hereby repealed; and all such asyignments, grants, and conveyances shall, 
in future, be recorded without any charge whatever.* 

Sec. 9. And be it further enacted. That a sum of money, not exceeding one 
thousand dollars, be, and the same is hereby, appropriated out of the Patent 
fund, to be expended by the Commissioner of Patents in the collection of agri- 
cultural statistics, and for other agricultural purposes; for which the said Com- 
missioner shall account in his next annual report. 

Sec. 10. And be it further enacted. That the provisions of the sixteenth sec- 
tion of the before-recited act shall extend to all cases where patents are refused 
for any reason whatever, either by the Commissioner of Patents, or by the 
chief justice of the District of Columbia, upon appeals from the decision of 
said Commissioner, as well as where the same shall have been refused on ac- 
count of, or by reason of, interference with a previously existing patent; and 
in all cases where there is no opposing party, a copy of the bill shall be served 

* See sec. 2, page 17. 



15 

upon the Commissioner of Patents, when the whole of the expenses of the pro- 
ceeding shall be paid by the applicant, whether the final decision shall be in 
his favor or otherwise. 

Sec. 11. And be it furthe)' enacted. That in cases where an appeal is now 
allowed by law from the decision of the Commissioner of Patents to a board 
of examiners provided for in the seventh section of the act to which this is ad- 
ditional, the party, instead thereof, shall have right to appeal to the chief jus- 
tice of the district court of the United States for the District of Columbia, by 
giving notice thereof to the Commissioner, and filing in the Patent office, with- 
in such time as the Commissioner shall appoint, his reasons of appeal, specifi- 
cally set forth in writing, and also paying into the Patent office, to the credit 
of the Patent fund, the sum of twenty-five dollars. And it shall be the duty of 
said chief justice, on petition, to hear and determine all such appeals, and to 
revise such decisions in a summary way, on the evidence produced before the 
Commissioners, at such early and convenient time as he may appoint, first no- 
tifying the Commissioner of the time and place of hearing, whose dut^^it shall 
be to give notice thereof to all parties who appear to be interested therein, in 
such manner as said judge shall prescribe. The Commissioner shall also lay 
before the said judge all the original papers and evidence in the case, together 
with the grounds of his decision, fully set forth in writing, touching all the 
points involved by the reasons of appeal, to which the revision shall be con- 
fined. And at the request of any party interested, or at the desire of the judge, 
the Commissioner and the examiners in the Patent office may be examined, 
under oath, in explanation of the principles of the machine, or other thing for 
which a patent in such case is prayed for. And it shall be the duty of the 
said judge, after a hearing of any such case, to return all the papers to the 
Commissioner, with a certificate of his proceedings and decision, which shall 
be entered of record in the Patent office; and such decision, so certified, shall 
govern the further proceedings of the Commissioner in such case: Provided^ 
however, That no opinion or decision of the judge in any such case shall pre- 
clude any person interested in favor or against the validity of any patent which 
has been, or may hereafter be, granted, from me right to contest the same in 
any judicial court, in any action in which its validity may come in question. 

Sec. 12. And be it further enacted, That the Commissioner of Patents shall 
have power to make all such regulations in respect to the taking of evidence 
to be used in contested cases before him, as may be just and reasonable. And 
so m.uch of the act to which this is additional, as provides for a board of exam- 
iners, is hereby repealed. 

Sec. 13. And be it further enacted, That there be paid annually, out of the 
Patent fund, to the said chief justice, in consideration of the duties herein im- 
posed, the sum of one hundred dollars. 

Approved, March 3d, 1839. 



AN ACT in addition to an act to promote the progress of the Useful Arts, and to repeal 
all acts and parts of acts heretofore made for that purpose. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States 
of America in Congress assembled, That the Treasurer of the United States be, 
and he hereby is, authorized to pay back, out of the Patent fund, any sum or 
sums of money, to any person who shall have paid the same into the Treasury, 
or to any receiver or depositary to the credit of the Treasurer, as for fees ac- 
cruing at the Patent office through mistake, and which are not provided to be 



16 

paid by existing laws, certificate thereof being made to said Treasurer by the 
Commissioner of Patents. 

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the third section of the act of March, 
eighteen hundred and thirty-seven, which authorizes the renewing of patents 
lost prior to the fifteenth of December, eighteen hundred and thirty-six, is ex- 
tended to patents granted prior to said fifteenth day of December, though they 
may have been lost subsequently: Provided, however, The same shall not have 
been recorded anew under the provisions of said act. 

Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That any citizen or citizens, or alien or 
aliens, having resided one year in the United States, and taken the oath of his 
or their intention to become a citizen or citizens, who by his, her, or their own 
industry, genius, eiForts, and expense, may have invented or produced any new 
and original design for a manufacture, whether of metal or other material or 
materials, or any new and original design for the printing of woollen, silk, cot- 
ton, or other fabrics, or any new and original design for a bust, statue, or has 
relief, or composition in alto or basso relievo, or any new and original impression 
or ornament, or to be placed on any article of manufacture, the same being formed 
in marble or other material, or any new and useful pattern, or print, or picture, 
to be either worked into or worked on, or printed, or painted, or cast, or other- 
wise fixed on, any article of manufacture, or any new and original shape or con- 
figuration of any article of manufacture, not known or used by others before his, 
her, or their invention or production thereof, and prior to the time of his, her, 
or their application for a patent therefor, and who shall desire to obtain an ex- 
clusive property or right therein to make, use, and sell, and vend the same, or 
copies of the same, to others, by them to be made, used, and sold, may make 
application, in writing, to the Commissioner of Patents, expressing such desire^ 
and the Commissioner, on due proceedings had, may grant a patent therefor, 
as in the case now of application for a patent : Provided, That the fee in such 
cases, which by the now existing laws would be required of the particular ap- 
plicant, shall be one-half the sum, and that the duration of said patent shall be 
seven years, and that all the regulations and provisions which now apply to 
the obtaining or protection of patents, not inconsistent with the provisions of 
this act, shall apply to applications under this section. 

Sec. 4. And be it further enacted. That the oath required for applicants for 
patents may be taken, when the applicant is not, for the time being, residing 
in the United States, before any minister, plenipotentiary, charge d'affaires, 
consul, or commercial agent, holding commission under the Government of 
the United States, or before any notary public of the foreign country in which 
such applicant may be. 

Sec. 5. And be it further enacted. That if any person or persons shall paint, 
or print, or mould, cast, carve, or engrave, or stamp, upon anything made, used, 
or sold by him, for the sole making or selling which he hath not, or shall not 
have, obtained letters patent, the name, or any imitation of the name of any other 
person who hath, or shall have, obtained letters patent, for the sole making and 
vending of such thing, without consent of such patentee, or his assigns or legal 
representatives; or if any person, upon any such thing not having been pur- 
chased from the patentee, or some person who purchased it from or under such 
patentee, or not having the license or consent of such patentee, or his assigns 
or legal representatives, shall write, paint, print, mould, cast, carve, engrave, 
stamp, or otherwise make or affix the word "patent," or the words "letters 
patent," or the words "patentee," or any word or words of like kind, meaning, 
or import, with the view or intent of imitating or counterfeiting the stamp, mark, 
or other device of the patentee, or shall affix the same, or any word, stamp, or 
device of like import, on any unpatented article, for the purpose of deceiving the 



17 

public, he, she, or they, so offending, shall be liable for such offence to a pen- 
alty of not less than one hundred dollars, with costs, to be recovered by action 
in any of the circuit courts of the United States, or in any of the district courts 
of the United States having the powers and jurisdiction of a circuit court; one- 
half of which penalty, as recovered, shall be paid to the Patent fund, and the 
other half to any person or persons who shall sue for the same. 

Sec. 6. .And be it further enacted, That all patentees and assignees of patents 
hereafter granted, are hereby required to stamp, engrave, or cause to be stamped 
or eno-raved, on each article vended or offered for sale, the date of the patent; 
and if any person or persons, patentees or assignees, shall neglect to do so, he, 
she, or they shall be liable to the same penalty; to be recovered and disposed 
of in the manner specified in the foregoing fifth section of this act. 

Approved August 29, 1842. 



Section 15 of the act entitled ".^» act to provide for the better organization of the Treasury^ and 
for the collection, safe-keeping, transfer, and disbursement of the public revenue. 

S^pproved August 6, 1846. 

And he it further enacted, That all marshals, district attorneys, and others, 
having public money to pay to the United States, and all patentees wishing to 
make payment for patents to be issued, may pay all such moneys to the Treas- 
urer of the United States, or to the treasurer of either of the mints in Philadel- 
phia or New Orleans, to either of the other assistant treasurers, or to such other 
depositary constituted by this act as shall be designated by the Secretary of the 
Treasury, in other parts of the United States, to receive such payments and 
give receipts or certificates of deposit therefor. 



AN ACT to provide additional examiners in the Patent office, and for other purposes. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States 
of America in Congress assembled, That there shall be appointed, in the man- 
ner provided in the second section of the act entitled *' An act to promote the 
progress of useful arts, and to repeal all acts and parts of acts heretofore made 
for that purpose," approved July fourth, eighteen hundred and thirty-six, two 
principal examiners and two assistant examiners, in addition to the number of 
examiners now employed in the Patent office; and that hereafter each of the 
principal examiners employed in the Patent office shall receive an annual salary 
of tw^enty-five hundred dollars, and each of the assistant. examiners an annual 
salary of fifteen hundred dollars: Provided, That the power to extend patents, 
now vested in the board composed of the Secretary of State, Commissioner of 
Patents, and Solicitor of the Treasury, by the eighteenth section of the act ap- 
proved July fourth, eighteen hundred and thirty-six, respecting the Patent 
office, shall hereafter be vested solely in the Commissioner of Patents; and 
when an application is made to him for the extension of a patent according to 
said eighteenth section, and sixty days' notice given thereof, he shall refer the 
case to the principal examiner having charge of the class of inventions to 
which said case belongs, who shall make a full, report to said Commissioner of 
the said case, and particularly whether the invention or improvement, secured 
in the patent, was new and patentable when patented; and thereupon the said 
Commissioner shall grant or refuse the extension of said patent, upon the same 
2 



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principles and rules that have governed said board; t I 

tended for a longer term than seven years. ill I j ] 

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That hereafter the |||i|||l||||||||||j|||||^ 

shall require a fee of one dollar for recording any as g 030 gjg gg^ ]^" 

veyance of the whole or any part of the interest in letters patent, or power ol 
attorney, or license to make or use the things patented, when such instrument 
shall not exceed three hundred words; the sum of two dollars when it shall ex- 
ceed three hundred, and shall not exceed one thousand words; and the sum of 
three dollars when it shall exceed one thousand words; which fees shall in all 
cases be paid in advance. 

Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That there shall be appointed in manner 
aforesaid two clerks, to be employed in copying and recording, and in other 
services in the Patent office, who shall each be paid a salary of one thousand 
two hundred dollars per annum. 

Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That the Commissioner of Patents is hereby 
authorized to send by mail, free of postage, the annual reports of the Patent 
office, in the same manner in which he is empowered to send letters and pack- 
ages relating to the business of the Patent office. 

Approved May 27, 1848. 



Section 2 of the act entitled " An act to establish the Home Department, and to provide for the 
Treasury Department an assistant Secretary of the Treasury and a Commissioner of the Customs.''^ 

Approved March 3, 1849. 

And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of the Interior shall exercise 
and perform all the acts of supervision and appeal in regard to the office of Com- 
missioner of Patents, now exercised by the Secretary of State; and the said 
Secretary of the Interior shall sign all requisitions for the advance or payment 
of money out of the Treasury, or estimates or accounts, subject to the same 
adjustment or control now exercised on similar estimates or accounts by the 
First or Fifth Auditor and First Comptroller of the Treasury. 



Section 2 of the act entitled *^ An act making appropriations for the civil and diplomatic expenses 

of Government,''^ 8fc. 

Approved March 3, 1851. 

And be it further enacted, That there shall be appointed and paid, in the 
manner now provided by law, two principal examiners and two assistant ex- 
aminers of patents, in addition to the examining force now employed in the 
Patent office. 

U. S. Patent OrncE, June 1, 1851. 



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